Planned Parenthood took to Facebook Live this afternoon to directly address Paul Ryan’s comments on defunding Planned Parenthood. One day after Vice President-elect Mike Pence visited House Republicans, Speaker Ryan hosted a press conference to announce that defunding Planned Parenthood would be a key part of the GOP’s proposed Obamacare repeal.

Despite the fact that a majority of Americans support the 100-year-old healthcare organization, which is visited by 2.5 million Americans each year, defunding Planned Parenthood has been a common refrain among Republican lawmakers looking to appeal to a conservative, anti-choice voting base. Planned Parenthood Action Fund President Cecile Richards moderated a conversation between Planned Parenthood Director of Legislative Affairs Jaqueline Ayers, Deputy National Organizing Director Kelly Robinson, and viewers like you, who wrote in with their questions about their access to healthcare. Read the transcript of Planned Parenthood’s Facebook Live below.

Cecile Richards: Hi everybody! Welcome to the first ever Planned Parenthood Facebook Live! My name is Cecile Richards, I’m President of the Planned Parenthood Action fund, and I’m gonna be your emcee today.

I’m super excited to be here in Washington today with a couple of my very best friends. This is Jaqueline Ayers who is the Director of Legislative Affairs here in Washington. She spends most of her time on Capitol Hill defending access to reproductive health care and to Planned Parenthood, and Kelly Robinson, our Deputy National Organizing Director, who is working every day to mobilize folks around the country to fight back against any efforts to curtail access to Planned Parenthood or access to reproductive healthcare. We’re doing this today because so many people have been writing and calling and emailing and asking what they can do about the attacks on reproductive healthcare, threats to PP. It’s really good that we’re doing this today because, some of you may have already heard in the news, speaker Paul Ryan announced today at a press conference that he is going to do everything he can to ram a bill through the House of Representatives to defund Planned Parenthood and end access to reproductive healthcare for millions of folks. So we’ve got a lot to talk about today. What I’m gonna do is turn it over to Jaqueline and Kelly, but we’re really here because we wanna hear from you. Folks will be sending in questions, we’re gonna answer them, so take it away, Jaqueline!

Jaqueline Ayers: Thanks Cecile, thanks everybody for joining us this afternoon. Now couldn’t be a more important time. This Republican leadership has made their priorities quite clear. Speaker Ryan’s announcement today to defund Planned Parenthood? We know that their real goal is about taking healthcare access. We can’t let that happen. We know that they are not only going to defund Planned Parenthood, but also work to roll back access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act. They’re going to take away healthcare from the 25 million people who now have access for the first time, and the 55 million women who have no cost birth control for the first time. We can’t let this happen, so we want to use this time with you to talk about what is really at stake. What does defunding mean? What they’re talking about is cutting off access to Medicaid reimbursements. Planned Parenthood healthcare centers are utilized by 2.5 million people every year. A large majority of them, about 1.5 million, rely on the Medicaid program as a form of health care. Medicaid patients can come to Planned Parenthood, they are able to get reimbursed, provided with services. We don’t get a blank check from the federal government. To be clear, this is not a conversation about money for anything but healthcare services.

This is not a conversation about funding for abortion. In fact, there is already an unfair law that makes it illegal to provide federal funding for abortion. We know that this attack that’s coming ahead, we’re gonna need you, we’re gonna need everything we have to make sure that your voices are getting heard to your elected officials. It’s not just this fight on defunding Planned Parenthoods. It’s also the nominees for the United States Secretary for Health and Human Services. There’s a person by the name of Representative Tom Price. Tom Price is a member of Congress from Georgia. He’s been nominated to be the HHS Secretary, and he’s TERRIBLE on women’s health. He’s always voting against healthcare access, voting to repeal the ACA, he’s even said women don’t have a problem affording birth control. So we know he’s out of touch, he’s the wrong person. We’re gonna need you on the defund Planned Parenthood fight, we’re gonna need your help defeating Tom Price as well. So, Kelly, help our folks understand out there what we’re gonna do to win.

Kelly Robinson: Woo, Jaqueline, as you’re talking my blood is boiling. I am fired up. Is there anyone else out there feeling fired up today? I know there are because so many of you have joined this really important conversation. What I wanna start with is, when they say defund Planned Parenthood, that means they’re gonna take away access for people that need it. One in five people visit Planned Parenthood in their lifetimes. That’s a lot of folks. That’s a lot of my family members. That’s a lot of people that I care about, and that’s what we’re fighting for. Access to quality healthcare services. My momma and Maya Angelou have been known to say that when someone tells you who they are – believe them. If you don’t believe extreme politicians like Ryan before, if you didn’t believe Vice President-elect Pence, Tom Price, when they’ve said their goal is to defund Planned Parenthood, to take away care, you better believe them. ‘Cause that’s what’s happening. Paul Ryan as early as today put out a statement committing to defunding Planned Parenthood as one of the first acts of this new Congress. This is not a game. This is not a drill. This is serious. We need folks to take action right now. I’m sure you’re wondering what you can do. What can you do to take a stand? How can you make your voice heard?

The good news is there’s a lot we can do to stand with Planned Parenthood. The other part of that is, the resistance is nothing new to us. We’ve been fighting the good fight for 100 years and guess what? We plan to keep doing it for a hundred more with the help and support of folks like you who are watching this Facebook Live right now. So in January, what we have to do to fight back against what Jaqueline’s talking about, is tell stories of the 2.5 million people who visit Planned Parenthood every year. Of those one in five women who come to our healthcare centers. Every way that we can, from sharing our stories to showing up in person. There are a few ways that folks can take action, and then we’ll get into your questions. First off, if you can, show up in person. Anywhere you can, show up and show out for reproductive freedom. Volunteers across the country have organized over 300 events in about 47 states, so just about no matter where you are, there’s an event happening near you that you can get involved in. On your screen, you should see a website, www.istandwithpp.org. Visit that website, and you can get connected to the many hundreds of events happening across the country in areas like yours.

If there's not an event happening near you, there’s a toolkit with instructions how you can host your own event, and get people in your community involved, because we know folks like you are fired up, and we know organizing is not a spectator sport, as my friends say. We need you to get involved. The other thing that you can do is join our mobile network to be part of our rapid response program. I know y’all are on Facebook Live, so someone’s got a cell phone next to them. Pull it out, and text “Stand with PP” to 22422. Text it there and you’ll have all the information you’ll need to know as this program and fight continues to evolve. ‘Cause as Jaqueline said, updates are happening at every moment and we need you to be involved to take action and stand with Planned Parenthood, and stand with the communities you serve.

Last thing I want to say is get your health care now. Just because there’s a threat on healthcare, doesn’t mean you should ignore it. Go to a Planned Parenthood Health Center. Go to a health center in your community. Get your access now. We want you to get your healthcare today, and work with us to fight like hell to keep it tomorrow. There’s a lot that you can do, and at the end of the day, what we want folks to take away is that we are in the middle of a movement moment. We’re in the middle of a moment that is calling for us to take action in a way we have never taken action before, and we’re ready. We’re ready for it with the leadership of folks like you. Do what you can, show up, visit standwithpp.org, join the text program Stand With Planned Parenthood by texting 22422. Get involved. Show up anywhere, show up somewhere. That’s what we need to do. I’m gonna toss it back to Cecile so we can take some questions from you, so you can do what needs to be done.

CR: I’ll tell you what I do. Whenever Kelly tells me to do something, I just do it – it’s a lot easier that way. So thank you, Kelly, for giving us instructions. We take our first question from Doris, from Arizona, actually she had already read the news that Paul Ryan said he was gonna defund Planned Parenthood. So she’s asking what is next? Will I be able to access my health care? So I was gonna say, one thing, Doris, to you, and Jaqueline may have some other thoughts because we actually just left Capitol Hill, where we had dozens of members of Congress streaming out to voice their opposition to what Speaker Ryan has said. One thing that we would ask you to do is call him, but his voicemail is apparently already completely full. So you can’t do that. I think the important thing to do is make sure you tweet out your opposition to this because they are paying attention on Capitol Hill to what people are saying. The most important thing we can do right now is make sure people are immediately responding to Paul Ryan, his threat to Planned Parenthood and access to healthcare, because they need to hear from people from every single state in this country. But Jaqueline, you may have some other specific thoughts.

JA: Thank you very much, Cecile. I think it is no mistake that we’re seeing this announcement today from Speaker Ryan one day after Vice President-elect Pence left Capitol Hill, meeting with House Republicans. He is the original architect of the defund Planned Parenthood language. Representative Mike Pence has had it out for Planned Parenthood for his entire political career. So we have to stop him and make sure his political agenda cannot be pursued any longer. It’s really important that we have your voices, and as Cecile says, that we really get in there and fight like hell. Your voices are gonna make the difference in this fight.

CR: One thing too, Jaqueline, before we take the next question, because I know we’re already having folks write in, is we’re just talking about on the Hill, is so important, and I’m not even sure that some of these members of Congress understand what they’re doing, and it’s why they need to hear from you, is that we’ve fought so hard to get birth control coverage for women in America. And now 55 million women have it, at no cost under the insurance plans. We actually have a 30 year low for unintended pregnancy in America. That is at risk. So what Paul Ryan is talking about doing is not only ending access to Planned Parenthood, but also overturning the Affordable Care Act, which is one way that so many folks are getting access to low cost birth control. So they’ve gotta hear from you on all of these issues, to understand how wildly unpopular these kinds of proposals are, but they need to hear from you. So Ginny D. from Pennsylvania is asking how we can hold politicians accountable for punishing women, which is a very appropriate question, so Kelly you might have some thoughts.

KR: I do have some thoughts on that one, thank you for asking, Ginny. We want to hold politicians accountable so they know that folks do not support defunding Planned Parenthood. We’re not talking about a political issue here, we’re talking about access to health care for people who need it. What do we need to do? We need to make our voices heard by every representative at every level of government, to make sure they know that’s not what folks voted for. Folks voted for the safety of their families and communities. Folks voted for economic prosperity. Folks did not vote to see Planned Parenthood defunded, and I’m not just telling you that as an anecdote. We know that from poll after poll showing that most voters support Planned Parenthood. Even half of Trump voters support Planned Parenthood. We need to make that simple fact clear to politicians. So we’re asking you to show up anywhere that you can. We have a lot of events, over 300 across the country, that are led by Planned Parenthood volunteers and supporters. You can find those at istandwithpp.org, for folks that are just joining. Again, for folks that are just joining us, you can join our text program to get rapid response updates by texting standwithpp to 22422. You can get your healthcare today and continue to fight for it later. There’s so much to do, and the moment to get it done is now. As Jaqueline said, the moment to fight is now. So make sure you’re making phone calls, you’re texting, you’re tweeting, you’re Facebooking. You’re doing all that you can to get that message out. That’s what’s going to enable us to be around for another 100 years providing lifesaving healthcare.

JA: Hey, if you’re just joining us, I wanna share that what Kelly said is really important. Now is the time for the fight. These folks on Capitol Hill could move a defunding Planned Parenthood bill to the floor and to the next President’s desk as soon as January or February. Now is the fight. And we really can’t have you wait. Members of Congress need to hear from you now that this is really unpopular. In fact, they’re going to try to do this through a little-known procedural tool that would be called reconciliation. That’s just a process that means they only need 51 votes instead of the regular 60 votes. And they’re doing that because they know they don’t have full support. We’ve gotta show them that no, they don’t have 60 votes, they also don’t have 51 votes. Let’s make our voices heard, and the time to do it is now.

KR: Absolutely. So there’s events happening all across the country. I’m sure some of you may have heard about a Women’s march that’s happening in Washington D.C. Anybody heard about that?

CR: I’ve heard about that.

KR: Yeah! So as you’re turning out in your local communities, that’s where we really want you to take action today, also on January 21st in Washington D.C. there’s gonna be an incredible women’s march happening here with hundreds of thousands of folks from across the country joining to stand up for women’s issues, one of those being supporting Planned Parenthood and supporting reproductive healthcare. So think about that, think about turning out locally. No matter what you do, do something. As Jaqueline said, now’s the time.

CR: There was a great question. Chloe M. just asked that, are you supporting the march on Washington. So that was great – thank you Kelly, I know I’ll be there, you’ll be there, all my family will be there. I also know there are so many people writing in, so we can’t get everybody, but there was a comment from Betty M. who just wrote in– I support you. My daughter uses your services and my son goes to Spectrum for LGBT youths, who will fight together. That’s so important. We have been in this fight before. Fortunately before now, we’ve had President Barack Obama on our side, who’s been such an awesome supporter of Planned Parenthood, of women’s access to healthcare, but as Jaqueline said, this is the time where we are really in the fight of our lives. The thing that’s interesting about Planned Parenthood is that the millions of folks who come to us every year for health care, they’re not necessarily coming to make a political statement, they’re coming because they need access to high quality care in their communities, and in many cases we may be the only source of that care. So I do think the support for Planned Parenthood, the support for access to birth control, the support for reproductive healthcare spans across all party lines, across all geographic lines, so it’s just important that folks hear from you in Washington. I know we have a question from Adela A. in Texas, my home state, who is asking What’s happening with Medicaid in Texas, and will women still be able to access healthcare? So Adela, thanks for your question. I’m sure that many of the folks who are watching know that the state of Texas has been on this campaign to end women’s access to healthcare and women’s access to Planned Parenthood now for many, many years, and I couldn’t be prouder of the folks in the state of Texas who have stood and fought for and continued to provide care no matter what. Governor Abbot has now been making this move to block Medicaid patients from accessing care, and that would mean thousands of folks would no longer be able to access basic preventative care. I think it’s important to understand that Medicaid patients who come to Planned Parenthood, they are coming for preventative services. That means family planning services, that means breast and cervical cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, basic preventative care – that is what the state of Texas is trying to block, that is what Paul Ryan is trying to do. In some ways, Texas is one of the first states up to try to do this on the state-based level, but that provides an illustration of why we have to fight back. We have seen in Texas already so many people lose access to healthcare. And of course we’re in court litigating on this issue. But I will say this, Jaqueline mentioned we just turned 100 years old. We’ve been doing this long before birth control was even legal in America, and we’re not going anywhere. We’ll stand and fight, but the thing is, what we’re fighting for now is not only to have our doors stay open, but that anyone that wants to come to us for healthcare, can come and access that healthcare, including the state of Texas. So it’s great to hear from you Adela, it’s important that other people across the country speak up, call the governor, your representative, but certainly communicate with Speaker Ryan or Vice President-elect Mike Pence. That was my chance to speak about my home state. We have Amy T. from Indiana, that’s a really important state, that’s where Vice President-elect hails from. Amy says, we’ve all been fighting for a long time to keep Planned Parenthood open and abortion legal. What do we do if they overturn Roe vs. Wade? So Jaqueline, I’m gonna turn to you for that.

JA: Thanks so much, Amy, for your question. Thank you for fighting with us for a long time. I’m gonna ask you to keep fighting with us. We know that the pledge from President-elect Trump is to appoint a supreme court justice that would be anti Roe v. Wade, anti abortion, that would take us back decades. We’re not gonna let that happen. We’re gonna ask you join us on this fight around defunding Planned Parenthood, and in this fight when we push back on these anti-abortion nominees that are gonna be put forward. ‘Cause the reality is we know what happens when women go without access to much needed care. We’ve seen this too often in states, when abortion restrictions and trap laws have made hard for people to get access to the care that they need, including access to abortion. And that’s a vision that maybe Donald Trump wants women to be punished, but that’s not the vision of America we wanna see. So we’re gonna ask you to keep fighting with us, Amy, and that you and all of your folks in Indiana are speaking out against Donald Trump, against Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

CR: There was a poll out today that basically showed the highest support for Roe v. Wade that I can remember in recent memory. And I do believe it’s because so many people are realizing that we are at risk in this country. It’s incredible that we could still be arguing 40+ years later about whether or not abortion would be legal in this country, whether or not women could get access to birth control. But that’s why it’s so important. We can’t have a silent majority in this country be in support of abortion rights, we actually have to have folks actively out there, making their voices heard. I know we had another question, but I think I lost it on the screen, so let me see… Oh, here we go! Margaret S., why are all these guys against women being able to get health care services? That’s an awesome question, Margaret, and it’s something that mystifies me, although sometimes I think it’s because it doesn’t actually impact them. But we know, and I’m gonna let Kelly talk about why we continue to be in some of these fights, the incredible thing is, men support access to healthcare for women too. And support access to safe and legal abortion. They support access to birth control. It’s very popular, birth control, for all people, so unfortunately I feel like there are some people in Congress who are voting for a very narrow group of Americans who are opposed to reproductive healthcare access, but they don’t represent where the majority is.

KR: I would totally agree with that assessment. This kind of question gets at why people have so much heartache and so much worry after the results of the election, what we’re seeing is some anger, some rage, but really a lot of fear that people have for themselves and their communities. Our job as good citizens, as good constituents, is to let them know where we stand. Let them know what we need in order to protect ourselves and our communities, and what people are saying overwhelmingly is that they need access to Planned Parenthood, they need access to reproductive healthcare. They need to see what the story really is. And what we don’t want to do is get caught up in any sort of dynamic or dialog that misconstrues who the enemy is. Standing with Planned Parenthood does mean that you’re standing with immigrants. Standing with Planned Parenthood does mean that you’re standing with communities of color. You’re standing with folks in rural communities who need access to healthcare. That’s what standing with Planned Parenthood is all about. We have an opportunity here to redefine what this movement is all about, to offer a space where we can all come together in defense of Planned Parenthood, but really in defense of so much more. Of the people that we serve in our communities.

CR: One of the interesting things about even Speaker Ryan, is that, in the state of Wisconsin, Planned Parenthood is a really important family planning provider, all across the state, in fact in many rural areas. By ending access to Planned Parenthood, it would mean the ending of access to healthcare for a lot of his own constituents. So that’s why we need folks to be communicating with the speaker, with their members of Congress, because that is a concern. I think we saw that this week – there was a big pushback when the house and some of the ethics laws in congress, and people went crazy. People started calling and making their voices heard, and that got pulled down.

JA: Absolutely. In one day. So phone calls really make a difference. Because it was announced in the morning, and that was an example of, as soon as folks heard about it, they got out there, they got to their elected officials, they made their voices heard. By the end of the day, it changed course. So that can happen to us too if you lend your voice and help out.

CR: I know some folks may have just joined us, so I want to make sure that we tell people things they can do, in case they weren’t here for the beginning. One thing is you can text “Stand with PP” to 22422. You can also, since we said it’s hard to call Speaker Ryan because his voicemail’s already full, but you can tweet out your opposition to the threats against Planned Parenthood, the threats to defund it. Please tell your stories. I cannot tell you the hundreds of thousands of stories that we have from past and current Planned Parenthood patients, from every single district in this country. There’s nothing better for Jaqueline to be able to do than to go into a member’s office and talk about a patient in their district that’s been a patient of Planned Parenthood, that relies on us for healthcare.

KR: And don’t forget, to show up in person. Visit istandwithpp.org, there’s over 300 events happening in communities like yours across the country. Just about every state is covered. Join one of our events, and there’s also a toolkit on there to host your own event. We want to make sure we’re having people show up in person, because as Cecile and Jaqueline said, we can tell you the stats and figures all day long – what’s really gonna move people is your stories. Your faces. Showing up and talking about why this issue matters to you.

CR: That’s right, thank you. We’ve got Matthew writing in from Texas. So many good people in the state of Texas, we just don’t have good representation. But he’s written in that Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, which is one of our great healthcare providers based out Houston, helped me, a man, with an STD scare when I had no insurance. So as he said, not quite abortion only. This is, and one of the things that is not reported as much, and one of the things Paul Ryan isn’t talking about is, is that we serve thousands and thousands of LGBT folks in this country, not only with important STI testing and treatment, HIV testing, but we are providing trans care in more and more places across the country. Really proud of this. So important. The goal of Planned Parenthood has always been to provide reproductive healthcare no matter what, to take away barriers to care. It’s why we think this fight is so important. It’s not only a matter of income access, it’s about having a place to go for reproductive healthcare. It’s also about having somewhere to go in a community where there’s sometimes not a safe place. You need to have a provider who will see you without judgment, without shame. And that’s our goal. Let’s see, Michelle H. has also written in, will House Republicans reverse the birth control provision from the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare? Really important question, Michelle. Will I have to pay for birth control now? I’m gonna turn this over to Jaqueline, but I have to say, this is just something that has been incredible. In the first couple of days after this election, we were flooded with calls in call centers all across the country for women coming in, trying to get their birth control before they overturned this benefit. In fact, we had a 900% increase in women trying to get an IUD appointment at Planned Parenthood, hoping to get a long-lasting method of birth control before they overturned the benefit. I think they’re very, very aware that this specific right is at risk, but I’ll let Jaqueline answer the question.

JA: Thanks so much, Michelle, for asking. Since the ACA has become law, 55 million women have been able to benefit from this provision, which means you don’t have out of pocket costs any longer for basic healthcare, and you have access to the contraceptive measure of your choice. And this has been a game changer. We don’t want to lose that, we don’t want to go back. And while we don’t know the full plan yet of what the House will do, it’s certainly under attack, it’s under threat, and that’s why they need to hear your voices. I just want to also remind folks, it’s not just the Congress, it’s also gonna be the incoming administration. They can threaten the birth control benefit with the HHS nominee Tom Price, who is soon going to be considered by the Senate. So please make sure you’re also reaching out to your senators, letting them know that Tom Price is the wrong pick for HHS. He is the wrong pick, he doesn’t understand access to healthcare, and in fact, he’s even said he doesn’t believe women have had trouble affording birth control. So what Kelly and Cecile said is right. Tell your birth control story, and make sure Tom Price and all of your senators hear about it.

CR: I think we have time for one last question—but this has been great, so maybe we’ll do some more, I don’t know – and also wanna make sure, before anyone signs off, to make sure to text Stand with PP to 22422, tweet out your story, tweet at Paul Ryan, if you will, about your opposition to his threat to end access to Planned Parenthood, and we’ll have this last question from Jodi S., who asks, how can we help if we live in a blue state? That’s so important, Jodi, because you’re right. One of the biggest threats we’ve had in Planned Parenthood is the belief that your zip code shouldn’t determine your right to access reproductive healthcare and rights, and unfortunately this country is increasingly, it does depend. We do need our blue state supporters. I don’t know, Kelly, you’re our field expert.

KR: Absolutely. I think it’s just as important to support some of the champions we have in blue states on women’s issues, to embolden them, to ask them to do even more – it’s as important to do that as it is to make sure folks who haven’t always been with us all the time that now is the time to stand with Planned Parenthood and stand with the communities we serve. So no matter where you are, it matters that you speak out today, that you take action today, from attending some of our stand with Planned Parenthood events, creating your own, joining our text program by texting Stand with PP to 22422, and by getting your healthcare now and continuing to fight for it later. All of that matters. And I’m just reminded, as our supporters say, when Planned Parenthood is under attack, what do we do?

All: Stand up fight back!

KR: So it’s time. It’s time do that no matter where you live, to ensure what Cecile said stays true. No matter where you are, no matter what zip code you live in, to make sure you always have access to reproductive health care.

CR: I’ll just say, Jodi, the important thing is as well – and Jaqueline and I just got back from Capitol Hill, they’re all talking there. And the I-states are where a lot of this action is. So if you live in California, if you live in New York, in Washington State, in Oregon, I could name other states – what those senators are hearing is really important, because they’re talking to other senators in other states, where it may be less uniform. So that’s one thing, even if you have a supportive member of the United States Senate, contact them anyway. For those of you from Texas, contact them anyway. You cannot underestimate, or overestimate how important it is that they hear from folks. And the last thing I’ll say is the beauty of social media. We have been so fortunate this campaign has brought people out of the woodwork. We have over 9 million supporters from every single corner of the earth. You posting your stories online, your relatives, your friends, your third grade classmate, people who may not live where you live, but that you’re engaged and you’re concerned, and what you’re doing can influence people far beyond your own borders. So I hope you do that. I want to thank everybody for joining us, thank you Jaqueline and Kelly, it was great fun to be with you. I want to make sure everybody texts Stand with PP to 22422. You do that, and if we get a good response today and you send us good vibes, we’ll do this again, because we have a big fight ahead of us and we can’t do it without you. Thank you.